In a significant victory for longtime B&D client Waste Connections, the Eastern District of Louisiana denied class certification in a high-stakes odor nuisance action concerning the Jefferson Parish Landfill. Ictech-Bendeck v. Waste Connections Bayou, Inc., --- F.Supp.3d ----, 2025 WL 932772 (E.D. La.). The Waste Connections defendants successfully opposed a sprawling proposed class, which sought to represent residents over a 42-square-mile area alleging odor nuisances spanning 30 months.
The court's comprehensive decision hinged on two crucial class certification criteria—predominance and superiority—finding that neither requirement was satisfied. In adopting B&D's argument, the court specifically highlighted the overly broad definition of the proposed class and the expansive time frame as core impediments to class certification. The court found that wind patterns, odor emission levels, and potential other sources of odors varied the plaintiffs' degree of exposure too widely and inconsistently for the class claims to predominate. Additionally, the ruling rejected the plaintiffs' attempt to use issue classes and bifurcation strategies to support certification, reinforcing that individualized impacts and damages inherently prevented collective treatment in this context. Finally, the court found that the plaintiffs lacked a workable trial plan, which was necessary for their motion to succeed.
This decisive win caps nearly seven years of litigation on the class issues and underscores the importance of strategic opposition to class certification in complex environmental nuisance actions.
The successful outcome reflects the collaborative efforts of a dedicated B&D team led by New York Principals Megan Brillault and John Paul, that included Principals Katelyn Ciolino, Mike Vitris,Jimmy Slaughter, and Michael Murphy, Senior Associates Katrina Krebs and Leigh Barton, and Associates Kenny Davis, Noa Ervin, Tim Nevins, Lia Crutchfield, and Audra Gale. Litigation Support Attorney Lang Johnston and Paralegals Sandi Fischer and Viktor Podolsky were also key to the team's success.